Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Giora "Hawkeye" Epstein ( he, גיורא אפשטיין; born May 20, 1938), today Giora Even ( he, גיורא אבן), is a retired brigadier General in the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

(IAF) and a fighter ace credited with 17 victories, 16 against Egyptian jets and one against an Egyptian

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

helicopter, making Epstein the ace of aces of supersonic fighter jets and of the Israeli Air Force. Epstein was an active IAF pilot from 1961 until May 26, 1997, when he retired at age 59. Like many retired IAF flyers, he later worked as a pilot for

El Al El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural ...

Airlines.

Early career

Epstein joined the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in 1956 during the

Sinai War The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

. He was initially rejected from flight school because of a heart condition and began his military career as a paratrooper. While traveling with the IDF's parachute demonstration team, Epstein changed his last name to Even ("stone" in Hebrew). He left the IDF in 1959 before returning two years later to again apply for flight school. After gaining medical clearance (mostly through his own stubbornness), Epstein began fighter training. He soon gained the nickname "Hawkeye" due to his extraordinary eyesight. Epstein was allegedly able to spot aircraft at a distance of 24 miles (38,4 km) — nearly three times further than a normal pilot.

Victories: 1967–1973

Epstein's first kill came on June 6, 1967 during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

, when he downed an Egyptian Sukhoi-7 at

El Arish ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ar, العريش ' , ''Hrinokorura'') is the capital and largest city (with 164,830 inhabitants ) of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the entire Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Medite ...

. During the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

in 1969–70, Epstein downed a

MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...

, another Sukhoi-7 and two

MiG 21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickna ...

s. The rest of his kills came during 1973's

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

. Between October 18 and 20, 1973, he downed an Egyptian

helicopter and eight jets: two Sukhoi-7s, two Sukhoi-20s and four MiG 21s. Then, on October 24, 1973, Epstein downed three more MiG-21s west of the

Great Bitter Lake The Great Bitter Lake ( ar, البحيرة المرة الكبرى; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: ''al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā'') is a large saltwater lake in Egypt that is part of the Suez Canal. Before the canal was built in ...

. Eight of these victories were with the French-built

Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...

, a

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...

fighter designed primarily as a high altitude interceptor. His other nine victories came in an

IAI Nesher The Israel Aircraft Industries Nesher (Hebrew: נשר, ' griffon vulture', often mistranslated as 'eagle') was the Israeli version of the French Dassault Mirage 5 multirole fighter.Gupta 1997, p. 105. Having sustained aircraft losses during the ...

, an Israeli-built version of the

Mirage 5 The Dassault Mirage 5 is a French supersonic attack aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s and manufactured in France and a number of other countries. It was derived from Dassault's popular Mirage III fighter and spawned sever ...

. Five of his kills were downed using air-to-air missiles, the rest with cannon.

Later career and retirement

After the Yom Kippur War, Epstein received the

Medal of Distinguished Service The Medal of Distinguished Service ( he, עיטור המופת) is an Israeli military decoration. The Medal of Distinguished Service is the third most important medal given by the IDF Chief of General Staff following an act that is done with co ...

, one of Israel's highest military honors. He went on to command

Mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...

and Kfir squadrons and was flying "ready" missions in the

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

up until his 59th birthday. Epstein was a captain for

Airlines from 1977 to 1997. Epstein was the primary subject of the "Desert Aces" episode of The History Channel series '' Dogfights''. The episode first aired on August 10, 2007.

References

External links

Official Israeli Air Force site listing Epstein's victory details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Giora 1938 births Living people Israeli Jews Israeli flying aces Israeli Air Force personnel Six-Day War pilots Yom Kippur War pilots Recipients of the Medal of Distinguished Service Commercial aviators

Early career

Victories: 1967–1973

Later career and retirement

See also

References

External links